The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a bath sponge having incorporated therein a core of detergent substances, and also relates to the bath sponge thus obtained.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus by means of which it is possible to manufacture a bath sponge, which also forms the subject-matter of the present invention, having incorporated therein a solid core substantially comprised of detergent substances, suitable for producing, when brought in contact with warm water, a soap-like foam. This foam permits the usual operations of personal washing to be carried out, without having to resort to the use of either soap or foam-producing substances.
It is well-known that, at present, bath sponges are used as such, without any previous processing, and that in order to produce the foam, either soaps or detergent substances currently available on the market, are used.
As is known, the user finds it extremely uncomfortable to use such sponges because he has first to form the foam either with the soap or the foregoing detergent substances, and then he has to apply the foam thus formed to the sponge. This latter operation must be obviously repeated each time the foam applied to the sponge has been used up. This operation must be frequently repeated particularly when the user takes a shower, i.e. in those conditions when the water rate is high and the soap foam is used up rapidly.
Moreover, the above-mentioned drawback is further worsened by the fact that the user must use both his hands, thus limiting his freedom of movement.
The foregoing drawback can be partly overcome by resorting to known detergent substances high in foaming activity, which are available on the market. However, also these known detergents have to be applied to the sponge, generally on the occasion of each washing operation.
With a view to overcoming the foregoing drawbacks, efforts have been made to load the sponges with detergent substances and maintain said detergents inside the sponges, so that, at the moment of the sponge use, these substances could generate the required amount of foam.
Heretofore the foregoing problem has not been solved satisfactorily yet, because the detergent substances to be loaded in the sponges are normally liquid and, consequently, as soon as they have been brought into the sponge they present the tendency to escape through the sponge pores.